Princesa Gloria class: Difference between revisions

The '''''Princesa Gloria''''' class of corvettes is a series of six warships built by Arsenale Corric with subcontracting done by Arma Nautico for the [[Royal Antoran Armada]]. These ships were designed as part of the ''Proyécto de Equipamíento Navál Interoperáble'' ([[Interoperable Naval Equipment Project]]) along with the [[Rége Julían class|''Rége Julían'' class]] frigates and ''[[Princesa Alandra'' class|Princesa Alandra class]]'' fast attack craft, with the intention to serve as medium-range gunboats and anti-submarine vessels. Work began on their construction in [[Porta Armada|Porto Armada]] in 1972; however, design work by Arma Nautico engineers had resulted in severe deficiencies in the vessels. The helicopter deck was too long, wasting space that could have been filled by a hangar, gunwhales were made too high for the installation of torpedo tubes, and the inclusion of an ammunition magazine for the deck gun was not considered when designing forward compartments. As a result, the ''Princesa Gloria'' class failed to meet the stated requirements of the contract issued by the Armada. The first two ships, completed in 1976 and 1977 to the deficient standards, were never commissioned. They were immediately put into reserve, and in 1979, sold to [[Älemsi Negdel|Älemsi Negdel.]]

The remaining four ships were completely refitted by Arsenale Corric to comply with the contract requirements. These vessels, in their "Block 2" configuration, were still far short of the capabilities intended in the Interoperable Project. The Armada admiralty relegated them to the Deterrent Fleet and Patrol Fleet instead of the pre-planned postings in the Attack Fleet with the other ships of the Project. Despite their poor design and construction history, the corvettes proved capable in the roles assigned to them and managed to barely avoid white elephant status. To fill the gunboat corvette position, the Armada commissioned the ''Princípe Jerónimo'' class, which the ''Princesa Glorias'' would serve alongside. The extensive reworking of their hulls meant that the ''Princesa Gloria'' class could not be modernized to the extent that other ships could, and the decision was made to retire them from combat vessel status in 2022. Three ships were refitted and recommissioned as the '''''Aleta''''' class of offshore patrol vessels and assigned to fishery duty. The ARC ''Princesa Desiree'', as the firstlast and most modern Block 2 corvette completed, was left unchanged and recommissioned as the ARC-T ''Princesa Desiree'' training vessel.